Means for regulating water-softening apparatus.



C i. KENNICOTT.

MEANS FOR REGULAUNG WATER SOFTEMNG APPARATUS.

AFPUCATION FILED MAR. 20. 9l6

Patented July 9, 1918.

(I I it? UNITED sTA E rENT OFFICE. i

CASS L. KENNICOTT, OF CHICAGO HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TiTHE PERMUTIT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK N. Y. A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

MEANS FOR REGULATING WATER-SOFTENING APPARATUS.

Application filed March 20, 1916.

"u all whom it may concern Be it: known that 1, (Ass L. KnNNuo'rrr, acitizen of the United States, residing at hicago Heights, in the countyol' (oak and State of Illinois, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in lyleans tor ltegulating Water-Softening Apparatus, ofwhich the following is a sptaritication.

-My invention relates to certain new and useful il11])l'()\'tllltlltS'in water-softening apparatus. aud is particularly concerned with meansfor regulating the feed of chemicals in proportion to the supply of rawwater. The invention will be more fully understood from the .t'oltowingdetailed description of one form ot apparatus embodying the same, inwhich description rel'ereuce will be had to the :u'companying drawingwhich illustrates diagrann'natically a verticalsection. through theessential portion of such an apparatus.

.111 the drawing. the numeral 1 designate-: a Vertical cylindricalsedinn-ntation. tank, provided w ith the usual conical bottom 2 in thecent-er oi" which there is mounted the sludge drawo[l' or drain 3. llxtending downwardly from the upper end of the sedinu-ntation tank is amember %l known as a downtake. and in the annular space between theupper end of the downtake and the wall 01' the sedimentation tank thereis mounted a litter bed 5. An outlet pipe (3 is tapped into the wall ofthe sedimentation tank above the litter 5 and is adapted to draw oil thesoftened and filtered water as it rises through the tiller bed. In theupper end of the downtakc there is supported a tint mixing plate 7.Mounted above the sedimentation tank by suitable supports not shown,there is a tract ionating box 8, having a main outlet 9 adapted todischarge (lirectly upon the mixing plate 7. and having also a:t'rau-tiouating outlet 10, having a prc-. determined cross-sectionalarea so proper lioned with reference to the area of the main dischargepipe 9 as to cause the water in the fractionating box to be divided intotwo issuing streams of the, proper predetermined proportions. A rawwater supply pipe 11 is arranged to discharge into the fractionatingtank 8 being controlled by a float valve 12 of the usual form.

From the fractionating outlet 10, a discharge pipe 13 leads downwardlyto a regulating bucket 14 which is suitably guided to float at varyinglevels from the surface of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9,1918.

Serial No. 85,385.

the waer in a tank 15. In order that the level of the liquid in the tank15 may be kept constant, for any displacement of the bucket, a normallyopen drain or outlet 16 is tapped into the wall of the tank at thedesired level. The bucket H is provided with a bail in the term of alaterally bent arm 17, the end of which carries a cable 18 which isadapted to support the free end of a swiveled discharge pipe 19 arrangedwithin, a chemical tank :20. The chemical discharge line 21 which is tedfrom the swivelcd lift pipe 1%) empties into a chemical sump 22, fromwhich the chemicals are drawn by centrifugal pump 23 and dischargedthrough a pipe 24 upon the upper surface of the mixing plate 7, theremingling with the discharging stream of raw water from the pipe 9.

The operation of 'my apparatus is as follows:

Assuming that softened water is being withdrawn through the pipe ti. andraw water supplied through the pipe 11, the entering stream of raw waterwill by the action of the fraetionating boxS. be divided. the mainportion passing out through the outlet 9 onto the mixing plate 7, and apre determined fraction discharging through the pipe 13 into the bucket14. vr\s this bucket fills up it w ll drop in the tank 15, therebylowering the open end of the swivelcd lift pipe 19, and pe-rn'tittingthe chemicals within the tankQfl to discharge to the sump 22, from whichthey are drawn by the pump 23, to be forced through the pipe 24. andthen on to the mixing plate'l, tobc there mingled with theentering-st'ream of raw water. The capacity of the pump 22 is equal tothe maximum rate of discharge of chemicals through the pipe 21 into thesump 22', so that with any rate of chcmicalfecd thepunip willcontinuously elevate and discharge upon the mixing plate 7 the entirequantity of chemicals fed. By this combination of mechanisms thereforethe feed of chemicals will be proportioned to the supply of raw water,the chemical flow automatically ceasing Whenever the supply of raw Waterthrough the pipe 11 is cut off, and

i automatically starting whenever this pipe again discharges into thefractic iating box 8. In like manner all variatiousof flow of the rawwater through the pipe 11. will be accompanied by correspondingvariations in the'discharge of chemical, the lift pipe 19 by which thechemicals are regulated, responding in its movement to the movement ofthe bucket 14, which in turn Is actuated by a fraction of the streamentering through the pipe 11.

Any desired means, either manual or automatic may be employed forregulating the amount of raw water entering through the pipe 11 inproportion to the quantity of softened water withdrawn from the outlet6.

While I have shown and described in considerable detail, one specificembodiment of my invention, it. is to be understood that this showingand description is illustrative only, and for the purpose of making myinvention more clear, and that I do not regard the invention as limitedto these details nor to any of them, except in so far as 1. haveincluded such limitation Within the terms of the following claims, inwhich it is my intention to claim all novelty inherent in my invent-ionas broadly as is permissible in VlBW of the prior art.

Q What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is;

1. In a water-softening apparatus, means for supplying raw Water, meansfor dividing the Watersupplied into a main stream and are ulatingStream, a bucket tank, a bucket floating thereinbmeans i'or dischargingthe chemical passing out through the regulating stream into the saidbucket, a chemical tank, a vertically movable outlet member for saidtank,.connections between said bucket and said outlet member foractuating the latter from the former, and means for discharging thechemicals passing through the said outlet member into said main streamof raw Water. y

2. In a watersoftening apparatus, a sedimentation tank, a fractionatingbox mounted above the said tank for discharge by gravity thereinto',means for supplying raw Water to said fractionating box, saidfractionating box being arranged to divide the water entering the sameinto a main stream which discharges into the sedimentation tank and aregulating stream which discharges separately, a bucket tank, a bucketfloating therein, means for discharging the regulating stream into saidbucket, a chemical tank. a. lift-pipe swivelcd to swing in a verticalplane within the said chemical tank, direct connections between saidlift-pipe and said bucket whereby these parts rise and fall in unison,and means for discharging the said liftpipe into the said sedimentationtank.

CASS L. KENNICO'FIT. In the presence of O. C. Avisrrs, N. M. Commas.

